So Much More
by LiveLaughLovex
Summary: They've been strangers, friends, and lovers in the past. Now it's time for them to be more. So much more. OLAKE.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Remember that time that I kept promising you an update to So Much More and you never got it? Well, there was a reason for that. I realized as I was going over the first chapter again that I was influenced too much by season six of the show, and I wrote this to ignore season six. So, I un-villainized Vanessa Moss. Please remember that I ignored the vindictiveness of her character later on and focused on the girl-next-door thing she had going on in season five. I also didn't make Mellie out to be evil, so I found it unfair to do that to Vanessa. Don't worry; Olake will make an appearance at the end, and they'll be in two of the only characters actually awake in the next chapter (that'll make sense if you read this first).**

 **Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.**

Olivia Pope had been in this position before. She had helped to get the same man elected to office twice, and she had been caught up in the media storm that preceded the election both times. What she had forgotten was just how crazy the media storm that followed the election almost always proved to be. She remembered almost immediately after the final results were released and confirmed by every media outlet in the country, however, and her memory was proven even more correct when news of Jake's impending divorce broke the next morning. By the second day of the process that would lead to a successful transfer of power, she was physically and emotionally exhausted and about fifteen seconds away from just walking off and never returning.

The press was relentless, and they wanted answers. Many outlets had called the marriage of Jake Ballard and Vanessa Moss a little too timely when his candidacy for the vice presidency was announced weeks after their vows, and those reporters were boasting about the correctness of their assumptions. Conservative newspapers and outlets were horrified to see such a situation make its way into the White House for the second time and called upon Jake and Vanessa to solve their problems and set an example for their country and its people. The trashy magazines that always caught Olivia's eye in grocery stores pointed to numerous reasons for the divorce, and several blamed the dissolve of the marriage on numerous different women, but Olivia's name seemed to be at the forefront of all of the reports. She was once again thrust into the spotlight, and while Abby and Fitz worked tirelessly to preserve her image and Jake threatened anyone who committed acts of slander against her, there wasn't much that could be done. She was going to have to go with the flow until the storm blew past, no matter how painful it was. Then again, she wasn't even prepared for the most painful aspect of the entire experience.

It started out simple. Vanessa didn't want the house, didn't want anything that she and Jake had ever shared, and was more than eager to sign the divorce papers. It was obvious that she was as miserable as her spouse was, and her argument to the media was that she shouldn't be teaching young girls to stay in relationships they weren't committed to simply because society believed that it was the right thing to do. She gave interviews to confirm that the divorce was no one's fault and sang Jake's praises in the public eye. She continued to support Mellie and her presidential intentions, and no words of scorn were uttered to a single media outlet. That all changed behind the scenes, however. Behind the scenes, Vanessa was more vicious than anyone Olivia had ever met. And that was so strange that it was almost terrifying.

Almost two weeks passed following the election without little consequence. On the day that Vanessa was scheduled to move out of the Ballards' shared residence, however, she buried her heels in and refused to go peacefully without speaking to Olivia. That was how Olivia had found herself at the front door of the home that Jake had briefly shared with his wife despite Jake's many protests about her making the trip to meet with the woman he knew to be content with stirring up trouble. When she knocked, she was beginning to realize just why his protests might have been rational. The door opened before she could think on it much, however.

Vanessa was as beautiful as she had always been, almost classically so. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a chignon, and her makeup was impeccable. Her silk blouse and wool pants didn't have a single wrinkle, and her pumps had cost her well over a thousand dollars. She looked like the future Second Lady of the United States, a role that she would have had if not for her husband's complete disinterest in her. She also looked exhausted, and Olivia once again felt guilt take over her body.

"Olivia," the other woman greeted civilly. "Please, come in." She stepped aside so that Olivia could enter and then turned towards her with a patient smile. "I've just put on some tea. Would you like some?"

"No, thank you," Olivia replied. "I don't drink much tea."

"Right," Vanessa sighed. "Jake told me that you didn't drink any morning beverages. Neither does he. I suppose that made your mornings simpler." She shot a shaky smile at Olivia before gesturing towards the sofa. "Please, sit."

"Vanessa, why did you ask me here?" Olivia questioned, refusing to take the seat. "You said that you'd destroy Mellie and Jake if you didn't get to see me, but you never gave any reason for wanting to speak to me. If you want to tear me apart, you can do it while I'm standing. I'd actually prefer to be able to make a quick escape."

Vanessa shook her head with a soft, humorless laugh. "I asked you here so that I could try to see what he does. I wanted to know why my husband was in love with you throughout our entire marriage. But as soon as I made that call, I realized that I brought this on myself."

"Vanessa, none of what happened was your fault," Olivia stated, her eyes widening.

"We both know that's a lie, Olivia." Vanessa laughed emptily once again. "You've never seen the two of you together, I suppose, because it's impossible, but you and him… you are unstoppable. I knew that from the first moment that I saw you two together. And he talked about you like…God, Olivia, you were always at the forefront of his mind. Even when you weren't his lover, you were his best friend. And I was so jealous, so jealous that I said yes to a proposal from a man that was obviously in love with another woman. I should've said no. When he hesitated at the altar, I should've realized that I was making a mistake. But he's Jake, you know?"

"I do," Olivia agreed softly. "It's impossible not to love him. I've tried a few times in the past."

"I know. He told me." Vanessa shook her head. "It's impossible, though. Not loving him? It's impossible. He's just…he's what every woman wants and only one woman gets to have. And it was selfish of me to think that I could be that one woman. Olivia, you apologized to me once for ending my marriage, but you're not the one that should apologize. I'm so sorry that I got in the way of something as beautiful as what you and he have." She drew in a deep breath. "What you two have is what other people hunt for. As much as that pains me to say, it's true. And I really, really hope that you can see how happy you make him before you try to leave him again. Being without you destroys him, Olivia. Please remember that." Vanessa cleared her throat and smiled once again. "I think I'll gather my things and leave. The packers have come and gone already, and I believe it's time for me to catch up with them."

"Vanessa, I should be the one to leave," Olivia protested.

"No, you shouldn't." Vanessa picked up her luggage and gave Olivia one more small smile. "This was never my place; it was always yours. Welcome home, Olivia." With that, she walked through the front door and permanently out of Olivia's life with her head held high. Olivia could only look after her in shock.

It was about an hour before Jake walked through the front door, a look of concern on his face. "Hey," he greeted softly when he caught sight of her. "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Why did you have to marry a decent woman you didn't love?" Olivia questioned, staring blankly ahead.

"What?" Jake asked, squatting down in front of her and placing his hands on her knees as he gave her his complete attention.

"She apologized for damaging our relationship. Your wife, that I helped you cheat on, apologized for messing up the relationship that you had with me before you were with her. She's nice, Jake. We have destroyed a decent woman."

Jake sighed. "Olivia." The usage of her name was also a warning that she chose to ignore.

"I destroy decent women. That's my thing. You told me I had a type when I found out you were married before, but I also have a signature move. Mellie and Vanessa, they were both fine until I came along."

"Vanessa and I wouldn't have lasted if you weren't in the picture, Olivia. Not because I would have ended up with anyone else, mind you, because you're it for me, but she and I…" He shook his head. "We see the world very differently, and it's not in a good way. She believes everything is perfect and I believe everything is a disaster, but she's not the one that can pull me out of that hole, Olivia. You're the only one who has ever achieved that. It's one of the many, many reasons I fell in love with you." He sighed. "If Vanessa was broken, I would feel guilty about that. But neither one of us was dedicated to this. That doesn't mean marriage is wrong, that means we were wrong for each other." He cupped her face in his hands. "You're the right one for me, Olivia. You're the one I can see forever with."

"You want to know a secret?" Olivia murmured.

"What?" Jake replied just as softly.

"You're the one I can see forever with, too."

The kiss that they shared was full of happiness and promises for the future, and as Olivia was scooped off of the sofa she was seated on and twirled around the room to the sound of Jake's laughter joined with her own, she realized that this was yet another one of those things that had happened for a reason. As she was placed on her feet and led into the kitchen to dance slowly to nonexistent music, she became aware of just how right this thing was. She also promised herself that she would never forget how right it was ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I reposted the first chapter with a less evil Vanessa, so if you like that kind of thing, feel free to go read that. I know that I originally said that this was a chapter about Thanksgiving, but I was also reminded by my own brain that Rowan is one of Jake and Olivia's biggest obstacles, and, well… you should know by now I'm not nice to Rowan in my writing. Sorry to any Rowan fans out there! If there are any, I have a challenge: redeem him to me. I would really like to read your arguments (and no, that's not sarcasm). And yes, I stole Owen from Grey's Anatomy. Please don't sue me.**

 **Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.**

Olivia Pope had never felt as deliriously happy in the entirety of her life as she did in those first few weeks of being with Jake. In hindsight, her track record should have told her that something was going to fall apart just to spite her. She just didn't think for even half a moment that it would be something such as this. For better or worse, she had always viewed her father as invincible. He was untouchable, evil yet smart, and he outdid everyone that tried to take him down. It just seemed slightly ironic that he was taken down by one of his own men atop a building in the middle of Washington, D.C. on an average November morning.

Three days before Thanksgiving, Olivia's phone had begun to ring insanely early in the morning. She had silenced it with a groan, unable to even process enough information to realize that someone was trying to get ahold of her. But then Jake's phone began to ring, as well. By the time that he pulled himself away from her and reached the two devices on the bedside table nearest to him, they had both received over half a dozen calls and texts. It became obvious before the device was even in her hand that something was extremely wrong somewhere in the world.

The calls had all come from an unknown number, but the texts had come from Huck and Quinn. Olivia redialed the number first, running a hand through her sleep-mussed hair and leaning her head on Jake's bare shoulder as she waited for her call to be connected. She sat up straight the moment that a voice came on to inform her that she had reached the Intensive Care Unit of George Washington University Hospital. Her stomach developed a pit within moments, and she buried her face in Jake's shoulder as she waited to speak to a person and not a robot. By the time that a secretary came onto the line, she already knew that her day was going to be ruined and her life was going to be changed.

The woman on the other end of the line was sympathetic as soon as Olivia told her what her name was, and she almost immediately transferred her to a nurse. The nurse then hunted down the trauma surgeon that had been on call and asked Olivia to wait while he prepared to take her call. Olivia did so breathlessly, her head still resting against Jake's shoulder as he ran a soothing hand up and down her back. And then, after what had only been minutes but felt like hours, the doctor came onto the other end of the line.

It was hard to process what the man was saying. He introduced himself as Dr. Owen Hunt before informing her that her father had been brought in earlier that morning with a head wound likely caused by a gunshot. While the doctors and nurses in charge of his case had worked tirelessly to prevent further blood loss, a neurologist had declared him braindead within moments of seeing the scans that the team had been waiting for, and her father had been hooked up to machines that would indefinitely breathe for him until his next of kin could be contacted. One of the nurses had been sympathetic towards Olivia during the cheating scandal that had erupted in the past and had identified Rowan as her father after the blood was cleaned away. After that, it had only taken moments to track her down.

Olivia was frozen in shock. After all the times that she had wanted her father dead, all the times that he had made her life a living hell, she hadn't thought for even a moment that she would be sad to receive a phone call like this one. After all, he was the reason that Jake had even been married in the first place, and he was the reason that they had both been miserable and lonely for months on end. He was the reason for all the pain in her life, and yet as she ended the phone call with the surgeon and stared numbly ahead, she realized that all she really wanted to do was scream at the ceiling and ask why.

She didn't, of course. Instead, she climbed from the bed and dressed methodically. She didn't even bother to tame her hair and instead pulled it into a tight bun. Her face was bare of makeup, and her jeans and sweater were far from typical of the wardrobe of Olivia Pope, but as she stumbled her way through finding shoes and a coat, she realized that none of that mattered. What mattered was that her father was dead, dying, about to be gone from the face of the earth, and she wasn't there. Even after all that he had done, nobody deserved to die alone.

Jake drove because she couldn't, and he opened her car door when she wouldn't upon their arrival at the hospital. He led her in and did all the talking at the front desk to ascertain just where in the hospital her father was. When they were directed to the Intensive Care Unit's front desk, he did all the talking there, too. Olivia had never been more thankful to have him in her life than she was as he took her hand and led her slowly down the hallway to the room where he had been told her father was.

It was quiet, peaceful even, as Olivia stepped into the room, Jake a few feet behind her. Her father was in the single bed around which everything else was arranged, and he was hooked up to more machines than she could bring herself to count at that moment. His eyes were closed, and he didn't move when she approached the bed. It was in that moment that she came to the sinking realization that the doctors had been right. There was no longer any hope. It was in that moment that the first tear made its way down her cheek.

Jake stood in the corner of the room, and she was aware that he was trying to give her a moment to say goodbye. Unlike Olivia, Jake saw nothing redeemable about Rowan. He hadn't grown up with the man as a father, hadn't seen what he was like before Maya's betrayal. All Rowan had ever been to Jake was Command, and Command had destroyed his life. Command had destroyed Olivia's life, too. But her father? Even though they were the same person, her father deserved to be mourned than Command ever would. Because Command hadn't rocked her to sleep at night or told her that she could change the world when she was only five years old. Even though Olivia knew that that man was long gone, there was still a part of him in the person lying on that bed, and she was going to spend the rest of her life mourning that part of him.

She sank into the chair next to the bed and took her father's hand in hers. She blinked back tears before beginning to speak. "I really don't want to feel anything right now," she admitted. "You ruined my life, you know. Time and again, you destroyed everything that I had built. For a very long time, you made me believe that I wasn't worthy of anyone's love, and when someone finally came along and proved you wrong, you threatened to slit his throat if I even tried to save him. You killed an innocent boy for the sins of his father, and you turned your back on the people that were loyal to you simply because that was what served you best at the time. In the eyes of the world, you are a monster. You're a monster in my eyes, too. So I really don't want to feel a damn thing right now, but I still do, because before all of this, before I knew about what you spent the majority of your life doing, you were my hero. And that makes it all worse, Dad, because you were my hero for so long and then you ruined that without hesitation."

She was crying at that point, and she knew that Jake was moments away from giving up on allowing her to have closure in favor of holding her and trying to protect her from the world, so she hurried through the rest of what she had to say. "I'm not sad about losing you, which… I don't know what that says about me. But I am sad about the fact that who you once were is going to die with who you are now. Because who you once were, that person was redeemable. And that's who I'm going to miss. So I forgive you, Dad. I want you to know that. I forgive you." As soon as she said the words, peace settled in her soul. She was finally ready to move on with her life.

The moment she stood from her chair, though, tears began pouring down her cheeks, and she walked directly into Jake's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest and trying to hide from the world as best as she could. Jake responded instantly, one arm wrapping around her and the other hand going to cup the back of her head as he pressed kisses against her hair and whispered soothing words that helped to calm her more quickly than she had anticipated. By the time that she pulled away, his shirt was soaked and his eyes were full of concern. "I'm ready now," she murmured, aware that he would know what she meant. He gazed at her with love, concern, and pride in his eyes before nodding and going to retrieve the doctor.

Her father's machines were unplugged at four-twenty-four in the morning. His heart stopped at four-thirty-eight. Time of death was called two minutes later, and the doctors and nurses murmured their apologies to her before going on with their lives. As she glanced up at Jake and then took his hand to lead him out of the hospital, she realized that despite the fact that what had just occurred had destroyed the little girl inside of her, she was finally ready to go on with her life, too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Well, the good news is that I finally managed to sit down and write a Thanksgiving chapter. The bad news is that there's not as much fluff as I had anticipated due to my decision to kill off Rowan three days before Thanksgiving. I still included everyone, so don't worry. It's just not as happy-go-lucky as it was when I first wrote a chapter like this.**

 **Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.**

 **Thanksgiving had never been** a happy occasion for either of the Ballard residence's current inhabitants. Olivia's parents had been out of town for meetings most years prior to her mother's disappearance, and once Maya was out of the picture, Rowan had never bothered to bring his daughter home from boarding school for the holidays. The Thanksgivings that they had spent together after she had returned to the States had been awkward, the home always overcast with a cloud of avoidance and anger, and once she had discovered just what her father did for a living, she had cut him out of her life until he found a multitude of ways to barge right back in. Jake's upbringing had been similar; his father was a violent drunk with nausea-inducing tastes, his mother was a battered woman, and his sister was the victim that he could never protect. By the time that he had gone to Annapolis and subsequently joined B-613, he had nothing tying him to Indiana other than a desire to protect his mother from his father, and when Philippa had left Jake's dad on the anniversary of Emily's death, he no longer had any reason to return home. Their memories of their pasts were a painful reminder of who they had once been, and they had both been eager to erase those thoughts from their minds. And then Rowan had died, and everything had changed.

Two days before Thanksgiving, Jake walked into the living room of his home and caught sight of Olivia curled up in one corner of the sofa with a mug of tea in her hand and a mindless soap opera playing on the screen in front of her. Olivia knew that her actions would raise red flags for the one man on earth who knew her far better than anyone else, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Despite her strength the day before, she was already missing her father, and she had no plans to stop anytime soon.

Jake sank onto the sofa next to her and turned his attention to the television screen. "You hate this show," he murmured under his breath, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer to his side. He tucked the fleece blanket she was clutching around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Do you want to watch some mindless romantic comedy instead?"

Olivia nodded, and he flipped through the channels until he found a holiday-centered movie full of clichés and cheesy romance. They watched movie after movie for the rest of the day until the laughter she gave at his mockery of the main characters was genuine. That was the first step in the right direction.

The day before Thanksgiving, Jake began to stock up for the holiday. They had planned on spending the day at the White House with their friends, but everyone had agreed to ignore their own traditions and move the celebrations to Jake's home after news of Rowan's death became common knowledge for those in the group. Mellie and Naomi were working overtime to ensure that Olivia wouldn't have to lift a finger, and Jake was gathering snacks, games, and films that would bring a bit of cheer into his girlfriend's life. Olivia watched from the sofa, unable to express in words just how thankful for this man she was. From the look in his eyes as they met hers, he already knew.

The day of Thanksgiving dawned bright and early. Olivia made her way down the stairs around six in the morning, wrapping her fleece robe more tightly around her and glancing around the room as she approached the kitchen. Jake was already there, pouring coffee into two mugs and adding cream and sugar to hers. While she usually despised the beverage, she craved the caffeine that it would provide at the early hour. She thanked him quietly and then made her way towards him to lean her head on his shoulder. They stared out the window for a few moments, just watching the sunrise, before she let out a sigh and nuzzled closer to him.

"I'm sorry that I've been so difficult," she apologized softly, causing him to glance down at her with confusion and concern. "I know that you've been trying to make everything perfect for me, and I haven't even thanked you for any of it. You deserve better than that." She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. "I am going to try my best from this point forward to be better than that."

Jake set his coffee on the counter and removed hers from her hand to do the same before turning her in his arms and cupping her cheeks between his palms. He shook his head and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You have nothing to apologize for, sweetheart," he murmured, neither of them starting at the term of endearment that sounded so natural coming from his lips. "You went through something awful three days ago; no one was expecting you to just bounce back from it."

"I know that no one's expecting me to just bounce back from it, but there's a part of me that feels like I should be able to. My father was a monster by anyone's standards, Jake. He doesn't deserve my sympathy or my grief. You know that better than anyone else on the planet." Olivia shook her head. "I don't know why I'm reacting like this. We have planned to take down my father in the past. This is no different."

"Except it is," Jake replied knowingly. "Because before, you were in control. In your opinion, what your father had done to Gerry Grant meant that he deserved to die, and you were ready to take any action necessary to ensure that justice was truly served. But then you were taken from your home for a week, and you became aware of what it meant to take someone's life even if you did so only for survival, and your views changed. Maybe you still hated him, but you could let him live if he answered for his other crimes by spending his life behind bars instead of ending up in a grave for them. That's why you released him from prison, Olivia, not because you're a bad person, but because there was a part of you that believed that he had really changed. And once you realized that he hadn't, that destroyed you, and you were ready to turn your back on him again. When you did what you did in the bunker, you probably felt like you could hurt your father without flinching, but when the time came, you still couldn't. Loving your father doesn't make you weak, Olivia. It makes you human."

"He hurt you," she murmured brokenly. "He hurt you by making you marry her, and I didn't try to stop him."

"You did try, Olivia," Jake whispered back, his lips brushing against her forehead. "You tried so hard. But he threatened me, and you knew what he was capable of. No matter how angry I was at the time, I understood that. I understood you. I still do. That's why I'm not angry about what's going on right now. Because we can hate our parents all that we want, but it's a lot different when we're not in control and they wind up dead anyway."

"I know that I'm not okay," Olivia admitted softly. "And you know that I'm not okay. But today, everyone we care about is coming over, and we're going to be happy, because it's Thanksgiving and we do have a family, even if it's not in the traditional sense of the word, so we are going to celebrate."

Jake smiled at her and brushed her hair away from her eyes. "Okay, then. That's what we'll do."

It was nearly nine in the morning when their friends began to arrive, and it seemed that many of them had the same idea. Dozens of doughnuts made their way into the kitchen, and Olivia laughed as Abby sheepishly held up another box as she made her way into the room, David just steps behind her. Olivia wondered why David had taken Leo's place as Abby's plus-one, but the look of absolute joy on her best friend's face stopped her from questioning the new arrangement too much. She hugged both of her friends and gestured towards the laden kitchen table to show them where to place the food before ushering them towards the living room.

Mellie and Fitz were already discussing politics in the living room and trying to bring a laughing Naomi over to their sides of the argument while she helped Teddy build a Lego set on the carpet. Karen was talking to Quinn about something that was causing them both to become animated on one of the sofas, and Charlie and Huck were having awkward small-talk appropriate for little ears a few feet away from them. Michael was trying to get a shy Ella to talk to Jake about the princess dress that Cyrus had exasperatedly informed Olivia she refused to take off more than once a week, and Cyrus and Marcus were conversing peacefully in the middle of the room. Blood or not, it was becoming more and more obvious to Olivia that the people within the four walls of her home at that exact moment were most definitely all members of the same family.

"Hey, Teddy," Mellie murmured once Olivia was in earshot, "How about you go show Liv what you made her?" She pointed towards the boy's little blue backpack on the floor next to his father's feet and shot him an encouraging smile.

The little boy shyly stood from his spot on the floor and gathered his backpack, removing a piece of paper from inside its main pocket. He then made his way over to Olivia and extended the paper in her direction. "Mommy told me that your daddy died, Miss Livvie," he explained quietly, his eyes on the toes of his light-up sneakers. "She said you were said, so I drew you this to help you not be sad anymore."

And oh, if that wasn't enough to melt Olivia's heart, then the hope in his eyes as he glanced up at her certainly would've done the trick. She accepted the paper from his hand and looked at it. She almost immediately had to fight back tears. It was of all of them, every single person in that room, standing together in front of the house that they were currently occupying, a house that Teddy had been to less than half a dozen times in his short life. The word 'family' was above all their heads, but that wasn't what broke her. No, the little boy had drawn her father as an angel looking down upon the people below with a smile. And even though it was just a picture drawn by a good-hearted little boy who wanted to make her smile, it gave her hope that her father was redeemable in the eyes of someone other than herself.

"Thank you, sweetheart," she murmured, bending slightly to wrap him in a hug and press a kiss to his cheek. "I love it." She smiled as she looked at all of their friends, her eyes finding Fitz and Mellie rather quickly. "You did good with this one," she mouthed at them, her arms still wrapped around their son. As she glanced at Karen and caught the young girl blinking back tears of her own, she smiled slightly. "You did good with all of them," she corrected.

After the emotional events of the morning, doughnuts and games became necessary to the survival of the festive atmosphere. Olivia was bombarded with questions from Ella and Teddy as they scarfed down doughnuts and drank hot chocolate, but she was unbothered by their curiosity and answered their inquiries as honestly as possible while also remaining aware of their young ages. A game of Uno started soon after, which led to more playful arguments than Olivia had anticipated, and then began the card game version of Family Feud, which resulted in Cyrus reading the cards and Olivia, Jake, Fitz, Naomi, Mellie, and Abby all somehow forgetting that the Grant marriage was famous enough to make its way into card games and losing to the other six people present.

Fitz buried his head in his hands and groaned. "Why didn't we think of ourselves?" he asked Mellie, his voice muffled.

"Because the category was Popular First Couples and our approval rate was never above forty-eight percent," Mellie replied logically, bouncing Teddy in her lap to make him laugh. "And because we're apparently capable of not being vain on some occasions."

"I think the more concerning fact about this is that a divorced couple got to the number one spot on the list," Naomi commented, biting into a potato chip. "I'm surprised no one's protested against this game for promoting divorce yet." She shrugged when everyone in the room looked at her. "Come on, I was at Mellie's rallies over the past few months, and people find a lot of random things to protest about."

"That's a fair point," Jake admitted, throwing the used card in a discard pile and then returning his attention to Cyrus. "What's up next?"

They played for another two hours (which resulted in Olivia's team winning and David's team pouting) before they decided to begin to heat the dishes that had been brought for the event. They hadn't gone traditional by any means; Olivia was halfway sure that Jake had sent a list of her favorite foods to everyone to make sure that she would eat. It worked in his favor, because she was almost too full by the time that everyone returned to the living room for the evening.

"Auntie Livvie?" Ella asked, skipping over to her with a wide smile.

Olivia scooped the little girl into her arms. "Yes, Miss Ella?" she questioned playfully, tapping on the tip of the little girl's nose.

"I'm glad you're my family," the little girl replied simply, leaning her head on Olivia's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're my family, too," Olivia murmured back. She meant every word.


End file.
